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Earth Day Art Contest: Trash in Our Oceans

EPA Celebrates Earth Day with Marine Debris Art Contest Winners

In celebration of Earth Day 2011, EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region sponsored a student art contest with the theme of “Trash in Our Oceans.” Over 200 local Bay Area students from grades K-12 submitted highly creative works of art depicting the problem of ocean debris. The students’ drawings, paintings, posters and three dimensional works used various media including found or recycled materials. 

"Every piece of art was beautiful and inspiring," said Bill Glenn, chief of EPA's Environmental Information Office for the Pacific Southwest and a contest organizer.  "It was difficult for the judges to narrow the field to 25 — let alone five grand prize winners — given the extraordinary quality of the students' work."

A reception honoring the 25 finalists was held on April 21 at the Pacific Southwest Office of EPA in San Francisco. Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld presented awards to all the winning artists and their teachers and announced the grand prize winners in five categories.  The reception was attended by the artists, their families and teachers, as well as local leaders in the art, environmental and education communities.

Marine debris is a global concern, and the expressive art produced by the students highlights the environmental problems caused by waste in our oceans.  Increasingly, plastics and trash generated on land are washing into our oceans and threatening wildlife. One striking example is the “great Pacific Ocean garbage patch,” an immense area between Hawaii and the western U.S. where small bits of plastic littering the sea are often mistaken for food by marine creatures. Many of the winning artworks are very inventive in their use of recycled objects and actual debris found on beaches.

The grand prize winner in the 3-5th grade category was submitted by Emma Jennison, a third- grader at the French American International School, who created a hand-sculpted sea turtle on a beach with a plastic bag in its mouth and the caption “Don’t Trash the Oceans!”

In the kindergarten through 2nd grade category, the winning entry was submitted by Miss Collette’s second grade class at Children’s Day School, using sea anemones, starfish and other sea life crafted by students with the message “Plastic Hurts Us!”

Ashley Gan, a seventh grader at Zion Lutheran School, won the grand prize in the 6-8th grade category for her drawing of a beach with a  fisherman’s net filled with marine debris and sea animals trying to feed on plastic waste.

In the high school category, Sungmin Chu, in the 10th grade at Lowell High School, won for a three dimensional depiction of a town where factories are polluting the beach and trash is washing into the ocean.

In addition, a special grand prize was awarded to a watercolor drawing of the beach picked by EPA staff as their favorite entry.  Submitted by Sudha Reynolds, a seventh grader at the Rooftop Alternative School, the drawing includes a poem about the tragedy of trash in the ocean and its effects on turtles, seagulls and other sea life.

 

The grand prize winners and their classmates will have the opportunity to have a field trip to EPA to learn about an environmental issue of interest to the students.

In addition to the award, each artist also received a collectible postcard decorated with art by San Francisco artist Eli Noyes, who was on hand to autograph the postcards for students at the reception. Mr. Noyes was chosen to design the U.S. Postal Service’s new “Go Green” stamps , recently released in honor of Earth Day 2011, which illustrate ways that we can all help the environment in our everyday actions.

Judges for the contest included Tamar Hurwitz, Environmental Education Coordinator for the San Francisco Department of the Environment; Deborah Munk, Director of the Artist in Residence Program at Recology San Francisco; and Judith Selby Lang, a local artist who creates works of art using found objects from Kehoe Beach in Point Reyes National Park.

After the reception and show on April 21, the artworks were moved to the EPA Environmental Information Center and Library where they will be on display beginning at an Open House on Earth Day, Friday, April 22, from 1 to 4 p.m. The exhibit will continue to be on display through May 26, Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. For additional information please call (415) 947-4406.

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A Poem, by Sudha Reynolds

 

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